The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Poaching rampant in capital district

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 15, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Poaching rampant in capital district

G. Anand

Threat to wildlife in nearly 800 sq km forests

Deer meat easily procurable
Poachers threatening arrival of migratory birds

Thiruvananthapuram: Poachers are threatening wildlife in nearly 800 sq km of forests in the district, according to law enforcers and nature lovers.

Last week, the Forest Department arrested eight persons on the charge of poaching from Shanghili forests near Palode. Wildlife enforcers confiscated three country-made guns, including one suited for hunting elephants, from the suspects.

They also recovered the remains of a Malabar Hornbill (a highly endangered bird often hunted for its colourful beak) and Sambhar deer.

Nature lovers said poaching is rampant in the three wild life reserves and also the Agasthyavanam Biological Park. P. R. Sreekumar of ‘Greens,’ an environmentalist group of Government Secretariat employees, said its members had come across the slaughtered remains of a Nilgiri Tahr at Njaraneeli below Ponmudi hills in September this year.

A wildlife photographer, who did not want to be named, said hunting groups from the city often entered Sanghili forests unchallenged in jeeps at night and under the pretext of visiting their ‘relatives’ in some of the agricultural settlements there.

Poaching often peaked during public holidays. Sambhar deer and wild boar is common game. Deer meat was easily procurable for Rs.450 per kg, he said.

G. Sushanth of Warblers and Waders, a bird watching group, said poachers armed with air-powered guns were posing a serious threat to migratory birds in the wetlands of Aakulam, Vellayani, Punchakari, Kakkamoola and Kazhakuttom.

He said the December-March migratory season was starting and already rare birds such as the Bald Headed Ibis Stork, Central Asian Greater Spotted Eagle and Osprey (a fish-eating predatory bird) were being spotted. He said poachers, who have almost wiped out water hens and wild ducks in the wetlands, were now training their guns on larger migratory birds.

There was also a flourishing pet-shop centred secret trade in trapped wild birds such as Hill Maina, Muniya and Parakeet, he said.

A wildlife enforcer said human encroachment had made the district forests ‘disturbed zones.’ Hooch brewing, ganja cultivation and unauthorised sand-mining were degrading the forest environment.

District Forest Officer Balakrishna Pillai said there would be no ‘complacency’ in checking forest crime and vigilance has been stepped up.

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